奇速英语

科学家称，50年内机器人将取代部分人力

Estate agents, traffic wardens and car salesman could all be replaced by artificially intelligent robots within the next 50 years, according to leading British scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

Dr Aderin-Pocock polled 2,000 people about which jobs they thought would be the first to be taken over by machines. Almost two thirds (65 per cent) said traffic wardens, 40 per cent said estate agents and 33 per cent said car salesman. Overall, 48 per cent admit that advances in technology made them fear for their job.

Dr Aderin-Pocock agreed that rapid advances in technology over the course of this century are expected to continue at an astonishing rate. “All this may seem the stuff of science fiction, but actually when you look more closely, science fiction has often led the way for technology development," she said. "Look at Captain Kirk’s communicator(Star Trek) and tell me that it’s not a mobile phone – and his system probably did less than the latest smartphones we have today.”

For service sector jobs, she predicts that therapeutic care for the elderly could be taken over by robots. Artificial intelligence (AI) in the caring sector is already being tested, with therapeutic robots that respond to the user’s tone and facial expressions. “You might prefer to be in the hands of – an overworked, underpaid, disenfranchised(没有公民权利的) worker doing long hours for least or no pay, or a therapeutic robot designed to respond to your every need." said Dr Aderin-Pocock.

Once people become comfortable with the use of AI technology in the home, attitudes towards its more general use may be transformed. Dr Aderin-Pocock suggests that the technology could extend to childcare, for example.

Further advances in technology could also lead to people investing in android companions. Some scientists believe that these companions could eventually lead to a decline in populations, with artificial relationships replacing human ones.

"I can see the adverts now: ‘He won’t leave the seat up'!" she joked. "We are unlikely to see this sort of thing in our lifetimes if it happens at all, but it is interesting to imagine the possibilities."